22.08.2014 » Atletico Madrid 1-0 Real Madrid. A slow start threw it all away
The Vicente Calderón hosted the 2nd leg of the Spanish Super Cup this Friday night, in a match where Atletico Madrid triumphed over their archrivals Real Madrid by 1-0 and which allowed them to celebrate their first title of the season. Carlo Ancelotti's men came into this game way too relaxed and it quite simply costed them a very early goal, still before the 2nd minute of the first half was completed. The main responsible for that was Atletico's summer signing, Mario Mandzukic, who has proven to be up to the task of replacing Chelsea's new signing Diego Costa by scoring the decisive goal, shortly after the game had kicked off. Real Madrid has then bumped into a true fortress built by the hosts and not even Cristiano Ronaldo's entrance in the second half was enough to spark a noteworthy reaction. The Portuguese forward started the game on the bench due to the muscle strain injury that he suffered three days ago, during the first leg tie against this very same Atletico Madrid side.
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Atletico Madrid 1-0 Real Madrid goals and highlights video:
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Carlo Ancelotti had announced several changes for the return leg at the Vicente Calderón and judging from the starting lineup we've seen last night, he sure wasn't bluffing. Iker Casillas may have remained in goal, but the back-four suffered a couple rotations with Fábio Coentrão replacing Marcelo in the left wing and Raphael Varane coming on for Pepe in the centre, as he paired up with Sergio Ramos. The right full-back spot was delivered to Carvajal, allowing him to repeat his start from last Tuesday in the Santiago Bernabéu.
In midfield, Ancelotti played the same trio he had already used in the first leg tie, with Xabi Alonso taking the defensive midfielder position, backed up by Toni Kroos and Luka Modric, both responsible for linking up the team's sectors. More upfront, the big surprise came when Cristiano Ronaldo's name didn't appear up in the lineup sheet. It was James Rodríguez who took his place to partner up with Gareth Bale and Karim Benzema in the attack, as Ancelotti decided to play safe by sparing his key player from the first 45 minutes of the game.
The home side didn't need too much time to show how determined they were in winning this second leg clash. Right in the first few seconds of the game, the former Bayern Munich forward Mario Mandzukic, got very close to escape from Real Madrid's marking at the back and step into the Merengues' box all alone with the ball close to his feet. However, Varane managed to somehow react in time and tackled the Croatian striker without fouling him, delaying the opener for at least a few more instants...
The difference in terms of intensity and determination between the two teams was so big in the first minutes of the game, that it ended up being only a matter of time until Atletico Madrid got to draw the first blood. And so it was.. We were still inside the 2nd minute of the game when a long kick from the Colchoneros goalkeeper, Moya, was on a first morment poorly cleared away by Varane and then headed back by Griezmann. During the entire play, Sergio Ramos was caught completely off guard and passively witnessing to everything happening around him. Unfortunately for Real Madrid, the ball fell on Mario Mandzukic's feet and the ex-Bayern Munich forward didn't waste his chance to bury the first goal in his Atletico Madrid journey.
Knowing how well Diego Simeone's Atletico usually defends and how tight they play when they step into a game as focused as they've done last night, it was fairly easy to predict that Real Madrid was going to struggle a lot to create good goal scoring chances in the time we had left. Moreover, the Merengues were missing their main danger man in the first half, since Cristiano Ronaldo only got to join the match after the break, after replacing the German midfielder, Toni Kroos.
With a favorable score achieved so early in the game, Atletico Madrid showed off their great unity and fighting spirit until the referee's final whistle, while Real Madrid failed to present the arguments to break down the Spanish champions' defense. The 1-0 result dragged right until the end of the game and Atletico Madrid got to celebrate winning the Spanish Super Cup at home (with a final 2-1 score on aggregate), and beating the team that had recently defeated them in the UEFA Champions League final from last season. It's now time for Carlo Ancelotti's men to lift their heads up and embrace the new season with more intensity and hunger for winning.
Real Madrid line-up vs Atletico Madrid:
Goalkeeper: Iker Casillas
Defenders: Fábio Coentrão, Varane, Sergio Ramos, Carvajal
Midfielders: Xabi Alonso, Kroos, Modric
Attackers: Gareth Bale, James Rodríguez, Karim Benzema.
| Match stats provided by www.ronaldo7.net
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Atletico Madrid
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Cristiano Ronaldo next game for Real Madrid will be against Cordoba, for the opening round of the Spanish League, on August 25. You can watch Juventus live stream, Real Madrid vs Cordoba, Barcelona vs Elche, Chelsea vs Leicester City, and Everton vs Arsenal, and Borussia Dortmund vs Bayer Leverkusen, all matches provided from our live soccer section.
Real Madrid next game:
Real Madrid vs Cordoba kick-off time (25-08-2014):
Jakarta (Indonesia) | GMT+7: 03:30
Spain (Madrid) | GMT+2: 22:30
Portugal and England (Lisbon/London) | GMT+1: 21:30
Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) | GMT-3: 17:30
New York (United States) | GMT-4: 16:30
Los Angeles (United States) | GMT-7 13:30
Beijing (China) | GMT+8: 04:30
Sources: ronaldo7.net / realmadrid.com / theguardian.com / lequipe.fr
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